“ THE THUNDER OF STEAM IN THE BLUE RIDGE “ 1958 NORFOLK & WESTERN STEAM LOCOMOTIVES J-CLASS 48314

Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference. This black & white film shows Norfolk & Western steam locomotive trains that ran in the Blue Mountain region of the United States with the footage shot in Virginia. This was filmed by Fred McLeod primarily in 1958 and released in 1963. Two primary classes of motive power are seen -- the Y6B class and the J class. The Y6b class locomotives were a group of 30, 2-8-8-2, articulated steam locomotives built between 1948 and 1952. They were decommissioned and scrapped roughly a decade later. The elegant, streamliner class J was used primarily for passenger service. Along with the class A and class Y freight locomotives, these represented Norfolk and Western’s “Big Three“ and the pinnacle of steam technology. One class J locomotive, #611, survives today. One Y6A also survives, #2156, the sole survivor of the railroad’s Y5, Y6, Y6a and Y6b